AFCON 2025: “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long” Hakimi’s bittersweet crown
“Even if we win the AFCON title this way, we will accept it… I have been waiting for this moment for so long.” When Achraf Hakimi said these words on The Bridge, you could hear both the joy and the unease in them. The joy of a man who has chased a dream his whole career. The unease of someone who knows, deep down, that this is not how champions are supposed to be made.
Because the truth is, Senegal won that final. On January 18, 2026, in Rabat, the Lions of Teranga beat Morocco 1-0 after extra time, in front of a home crowd that had been waiting just as long as Hakimi. They celebrated. They cried. They thought it was over.
It wasn’t. Two months later, on March 17, 2026, the CAF Appeal Jury flipped everything upside down declaring Senegal forfeited under Article 82 of the regulations, and handing Morocco a 3-0 victory on paper.
The reason? Senegalese players had briefly walked off the pitch to protest a controversial penalty call. They came back. They finished the game. They won. And yet, none of it counted.
Senegal refused to accept that verdict and took the fight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, filing an official appeal on March 25, 2026, asking for the decision to be thrown out and their title restored.
